The Atwood DITFT: Generation 2, Chapter 9, Part 1
Author's Note: Hi again everyone! It's time for another chapter! I'm all jealous of tale_legacy now because she's got little Reagan kidlets running around, and I don't xD So I'm trying to hurry up, lol! Anyway, that's all I really have to say :P So, without further ado, have a long chapter! And enjoy!
The Atwood DITFT: Generation 2, Chapter 9
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“Brace yourself,” Alice whispered, giving Reagan’s hand a squeeze. The six young people stood outside the door to Marigold’s room in the Appaloosa Plains hospital. None of them were sure how Marigold was doing, since none had been back for at least a week. Everyone took a deep breath; then Michael opened the door.
Nick, who had been sitting by Marigold’s bed, stood up in a flash. “Kids! Did you-?”
The five of them moved to the sides so that Nick could see Reagan. She watched as his eyes widened and filled with tears. “Reagan… Oh, my beautiful daughter…” He hurried over as fast as he could, and pulled her into an embrace. “Sweetheart… Forgive me…”
Reagan began to cry. “Dad… Of course I do.”
They remained hugging for another moment, then Nick pulled away. “Come and say hello to your mother,” he said quietly.
Reagan made her way over to where Marigold lay. “Mom?”
Marigold’s eyes fluttered open. “R-Reagan? Is it really you?” She sat up slightly. “Oh, sweetheart, it is you!”
“Mom,” Reagan murmured, tears spilling across her cheeks. She sat heavily in the chair beside the bed. “I didn’t… I didn’t want it to be like this.” She was vaguely aware of Nick ushering the rest of her family out of the room. “I never meant to come back to have you this way.”
“Oh, Reagan,” Marigold said, and Reagan was startled to hear how weak Marigold’s voice sounded. “It’s all right. I’m glad you came to see me… I’m glad you’re home. We never… wanted you to leave.”
“Dad did,” Reagan said quietly.
“He didn’t, baby,” said Marigold. “Truly. It destroyed him… when you left. He loves you… just as much as he loves the others. All the fighting… made him blind… for a while, but he saw it… eventually.”
“I was pregnant, though.”
“You were raped,” Marigold spat. Reagan was surprised-had Alice told her family, then? “When Nick… found out, he was… devastated. It’s not… your fault, baby. It never… was.” Marigold’s breathing was getting more ragged.
“Don’t hurt yourself, Mama,” Reagan begged. “We can talk later, when you’re better, about all this.”
“We can’t,” Marigold said sadly.
“No-what do you mean? You’re going to get better, Mom. You are!”
“Maybe,” Marigold replied. “But sweetheart… never forget how much I love you. You are my beautiful… black-haired baby; you always will be.”
“I don’t know,” Reagan said, her voice catching in her throat. “I always felt like… I didn’t belong the way the rest of them do.”
“Why, because you… don’t have my hair, or Dad’s?” Reagan smiled at how well her mother knew her. “Baby… you are the only one… the only one who has my eyes.” Marigold mustered a breathtaking smile. “If you want to know a secret… you’ve always been my favorite… because of that.”
Reagan smiled through her tears. She had never given much thought to her eyes. “Mom, you shouldn’t have favorites!” she said lightly.
“Oh, pish posh,” Marigold said. “As if any… mother… doesn’t. Besides… I love all of you more than… anything… You know that.”
“I do now.”
“Get the rest of them back in here,” Marigold said suddenly.
“W-what?”
“Just do it… hurry.”
Reagan called to her siblings and father, and they returned to the room instantly. “What is it?” Nick asked, placing himself back in his seat by Marigold’s head.
“I just… wanted to tell you… I love you,” Marigold said, looking first at Nick, then at each of her children-including Alice-in turn. “I love each… and every one of you.” Her voice was fading. “Stick together… from now… on.” Her breathing came only lightly. “…Please.” She lay completely still.
“No!” Nick cried, grabbing Marigold’s hand. “Mar! Please, please no! Somebody call a doctor!”
Michael quickly left to fetch someone, but everyone knew in their hearts that what had happened could not be fixed by any medicine.
Marigold was gone.
* * *
The funeral was held the following Sunday. Nick and all of his children cried shamelessly as they buried Marigold in the family cemetery behind the farm. “You were the best wife I could have asked for. Rest in peace,” Nick said softly, “with Mom, Dad, Julie, and all of our pets.”
Most of the kids-and Nick-dealt with their grief by aimlessly wandering through the farmhouse, sitting listless and blank-faced by the pond or at the piano, lamenting the loss of such a beloved family member.
Reagan was different. Shrouded in black, she once again took a train to Bridgeport. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do, but she had to do something. Things couldn’t stay the way they had been-she needed to go back home, permanently.
“To Appaloosa Plains?” her boss, Scott, asked incredulously when she told him. “What in the hell is motivating you to go there?”
“My mother passed away,” Reagan said, her voice sharp as a shard of glass. “It’s where my family lives; I want to go back.”
Scott looked taken aback. “I’m so sorry… I didn’t realize.”
“Obviously.” Reagan was in no mood for polite chitchat.
“Well… I suppose we can find an opening for you at our branch in the Plains. I’ll have to do some searching… maybe fire a few people…” Scott trailed off. “Yes, it’s possible to hire you out there. But… you won’t really have a chance at becoming CEO. Our chief out there is very well-respected; she won’t be giving up her position anytime soon.”
“Unless she gets promoted as well,” Reagan said with a devious smile.
“I like the way you think, girl,” Scott said. “We’ll sure miss having you around here in the Bridgeport branch.”
“Yeah… I’ll miss it too. It’s been great,” Reagan said. “Thanks for everything.”
“We were glad to have you!” Scott assured her. “Now, it sounds like I’ve got a few calls to make, so I should get going. When you get back to the Plains, ask for Lucille. She’s the head honcho over there. Tell her I sent you and she’ll certainly make time for you. She’ll know the plan by the time you get back.”
“Will do, Scott,” Reagan said. “Thanks again.” They both stood up and shook hands.
“Best of luck, Reagan,” he said with a smile.
“Thanks. I have a feeling I’m gonna need it.”
* * *
Three days later (after selling her apartment), Reagan was back in the Plains. She wouldn’t live at the farm-she didn’t think she could ever go back to living with her father after her taste of independence-but she was fairly close by. She also had a new family member: Patches, one of four kittens that Tucker and Ellie had recently had. The litter had been split among the siblings.
The very next day, Reagan had talked to Lucille-who, incidentally, was Lucille Ink, Ramanda’s mother and the woman who inspired all of Reagan’s aspirations. According to Mrs. Ink, Reagan was slated to become Vice President of the company, but she’d be on trial as a department head for the first month of her employment. Reagan couldn’t be happier-VP was only one step below the position of CEO!
* * *
Life settled slowly back into routine. Reagan, who kept in regular contact with her family now, found that Nick’s resilience from his difficult past helped ease his pain at losing Marigold-though it would never fully be gone. The kids, too, began to adjust to life without Marigold. Michael and Rowan’s restaurant had its grand opening, and they decided, with Nick’s approval, to change the name to Marigold’s Farm-Fresh Delights. Raleigh finished medical school and began her work in the “real world.” The farm, which had suffered briefly in the period after Marigold’s death, bounced back promptly.
Raleigh and Rowan found boyfriends pretty quickly once their sister was home. Both were coworkers-Raleigh’s being a fellow doctor, and Rowan’s the first employee she and Michael hired for their restaurant. The girls confessed to Reagan one day that they had wanted to wait to get married until Reagan came home, so that the three of them could experience marriage at the same time.
Michael finally did propose to Cassie, though their wedding was held only between the two of them-neither felt that a big ceremony would be proper such a short time after Marigold’s passing.
Alice and Mason had news of their own-they were in fact expecting another child! Although the age gap between Hope and the new arrival would be a little large (nearly 8 years), the couple couldn’t be more excited. Hope, too, was thrilled to find out that her mother was having a baby, and couldn’t wait to be a big sister.
But as for Reagan, the most exciting thing that happened in her life was going to work each day. Often she found herself wishing she could be back in Bridgeport. The nightlife in Appaloosa Plains was… lacking, and the prospects for romance even worse.
Too bad, though, Reagan told herself. I had to grow up sometime. This is the perfect way to do that.
* * *
“Thanks for taking me out tonight,” Reagan said with a grin as she stepped out onto the sidewalk. “Row and Michael’s little café is really something, isn’t it?”
“I loved it!” said Ryan, Reagan’s friend from work. “I’m definitely telling all my friends about it. And I have a lot of those.” He winked.
Reagan wasn’t sure how to take that statement, so she just smiled and said, “That’ll be a great help!”
“What can I say?” Ryan said with a grin. “I aim to please!”
“I’ve certainly learned that about you,” Reagan laughed. It was true; in the four or five months Reagan had been working at her new job in the Plains, she hadn’t met a friendlier (if slightly cocky) guy.
“So, Miss Reagan, would you like to take a stroll in the park?” Ryan said, taking on a posh British accent. “The evening is fine!”
“That would be most excellent, good sir,” Reagan replied, mimicking Ryan’s tone. He good-naturedly took her arm, and they walked along the quiet streets together.
“So tell me, Reagan. Pretty girl like yourself, you must have a boyfriend.”
“I don’t,” she said shortly. “And I’m not looking for one, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“Oh, no, no,” Ryan said quickly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean that as a pickup line. I’m… taken… anyway. I was just curious.”
Reagan relaxed. “All right. Well, to tell you the truth, I don’t think I ever want one. Not a serious one, anyway.”
“What? Why not? Boys are charming and sexy and wonderful, didn’t you hear?” Ryan winked.
“No, I didn’t actually,” Reagan said. “I’ve had some… bad experiences with guys.”
“Like what?”
“I’d rather not talk about it.”
“Oh, come on,” said Ryan, turning to face her. “It couldn’t hurt, could it? We’re friends, after all. I’m not gonna go telling the whole town. Besides, I don’t have such a nice history either. No judging here, I promise.”
“You asked for it…” Reagan muttered. “Fine. When I was 17 I dated this asshole of a guy, and for some reason he didn’t bother me until it was too late. He… he forced me to have sex with him the summer before my senior year of high school.”
“What?!” Ryan exclaimed. “He raped you? Reagan! I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have-”
“No, it’s okay,” Reagan said. “It’s actually… good to talk about it.” She was surprised to find that it was true. “I mean, I’m over it now. It’s in the past; I’ve been able to move on.”
“Move on? But Ray! I don’t know if that’s something you should just-”
“It’s easier to forget, okay? Can we talk about something else now?”
“No, we can’t. Look, I can’t just let this go away for you. My brother Finn is working on a rape case right now-he’s a cop-and I bet he would love to try to help you too. We should find the guy who hurt you and make him pay for what he did!”
“It’s impossible. He left town; he’s gone. It’s not like it’s really a big-”
“It is a big deal, okay? Come on, just come talk to Finn with me sometime. You met him that one time you went on a picnic with my family, remember? He’s a nice guy! Hey, maybe he’s even looking for the same guy you are! That’d be a funny coincidence, right? So will you do it?”
Ryan’s face looked so sweetly eager-like a puppy, Reagan thought-that she couldn’t refuse. Well, it certainly would be nice to see Dom behind bars, she thought. There was just the issue of what had happened the night she first met Finn… But maybe they could just pretend that had never happened. Finn’s insults would sting a little less when she had the satisfaction of telling him she wasn’t a whore-she had been raped. “All right, fine. I’ll come meet your brother I guess. But I’m not going into any details, you can’t make me.”
“Of course not,” Ryan said immediately. “Finn doesn’t need you to describe much. Just the guy’s appearance, really, maybe some basic information… well, Finn should do all the talking. Hey, why don’t you come over tomorrow? Say, 2:00?”
“Okay, okay, fine. 2:00 it is.”
“We’re gonna bring that man to justice,” Ryan said. “I promise.”
* * *
Unfortunately, this post has become too big for LJ, so part 2 can be found HERE!